Press Briefing: Microsoft dealt court setback over temporary workers

CBS.MarketWatch.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court dealt Microsoft Corp. another legal blow in its battle to deny benefits to temporary workers. The court said thousands of previously excluded workers were eligible to buy discounted stock in the company. According to The Wall Street Journal, the decision expands the software company's financial exposure in the dispute, potentially adding millions of dollars to its past and present compensation costs. It could also make it harder for many other employers to deny stock-purchase rights to temporary or contract workers in the future. Microsoft
MSFT, -1.33%
has been criticized by labor advocates for taking a hard line on the issue while many permanent employees became millionaires through stock options as profits skyrocketed. A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled late Wednesday that a larger group of workers -- perhaps as many as 10,000 rather than merely hundreds -- were eligible to participate in the company's stock plan than a lower federal court previously indicated. Those workers may eventually be paid for the appreciation of shares they were unable to buy. The Wall Street Journal New Holland
NH, +0.32%
and Case
CSE, -2.08%
discuss merger NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- New Holland NV and Case Corp. are in discussions about a potential merger of the two agricultural- and construction-equipment makers. The Wall Street Journal reported that if completed, the deal would combine two companies in an equipment market battered by low crop prices and the now-receding global economic crisis. It also would set up an intense rivalry between the combined entity and Deere & Co.
DE, -1.63%
Case shares have risen sharply in recent days on takeover speculation. In New York Stock Exchange composite trading Thursday, Case shares rose $2.1875 to $42.8125. New Holland
NH, +0.32%
shares also have been rising of late; the company's shares climbed 6.25 cents to $18 Thursday on the Big Board. The merger terms under discussion couldn't be learned. John Inch, an analyst with Bear, Stearns & Co., values Case shares at from $55 to $60 in a takeover, and told the Journal a match between the two would be complementary. "New Holland is stronger in Europe, Case is stronger in North America," he said. The Wall Street Journal

BRUSSELS (CBS.MW) -- Kuwait Petroleum Corp. directors have pledged their support "in principle" to the accelerated merger of Hoechst AG and Rhone-Poulenc SA, removing the biggest remaining hurdle to the giant corporate marriage. According to The Wall Street Journal Europe, after a board meeting Thursday morning, Kuwait Petroleum said its management would "progress discussions to finalize the relevant agreements necessary to implement the transaction." Kuwait Petroleum has a 24.5 percent stake in Hoechst. Although not exactly the ringing declaration of support some analysts had expected, Kuwait Petroleum's statement was welcomed by Hoechst
hoe
and Rhone-Poulenc
RP, -0.10%
The boards of both companies had approved the revised merger plan in principle on Tuesday and in a joint statement, Hoechst and Rhone-Poulenc said their managements would meet shortly to finalize the merger agreement. The companies promised to disclose on Monday details about terms and timing of the revised merger plan. The merger plan still is subject to approval by both companies' shareholders at extraordinary general meetings to be held within the next three months. The Wall Street Journal EuropeFrance to ask for ruling on Coca-Cola
KO, -1.48%
bid for Orangina

PARIS (CBS.MW) -- The French finance ministry is to ask an independent competition regulator to examine an updated bid by Coca-Cola for the orange drinks business Orangina. According to the Financial Times, Coke's
KO, -1.48%
$814 million bid for Orangina, which is owned by Pernod Ricard, was blocked last year by the French finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn. This was after the Conseil de la Concurrence, the competition regulator, warned that the deal threatened to give Coke a dominant position in some segments of the French soft drinks market. Financial Times

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- If executives trade shares in their company's stock while secret takeover talks are under way, they could face insider-trading-law sanctions. But what if directors grant huge and lucrative stock option awards while such private discussions are under way? According to The Wall Street Journal, that's the issue involving the pending $4.5 billion acquisition of Fore Systems Inc.
FORE, +0.24%
by Britain's General Electric Co. PLC. In what securities-law experts call highly unusual actions, directors of the maker of Internet-switching equipment granted hundreds of thousands of stock options to seven top executives while Fore Systems was in talks to be acquired by GEC, which isn't related to General Electric Co. of the U.S. The executives stand to gain millions of dollars next month when the acquisition is expected to be completed, because the stock options, at prices ranging from $13.44 to $20.56 a share, are well below GEC's $35-a-share cash offer. Employment agreements signed between GEC and the seven Fore Systems executives on April 26, the date the acquisition was announced, permit them to get a cash award representing the difference in price between their stock options and the $35-a-share offer price. The Wall Street Journal

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